I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 438

Shuffling sounds-

Small, delicate fingers shuffle the cards.

The girl before me, Scarlet, a Rank N hero, is a master gambler.

Unlike the other gamblers in the Gamble Club, she doesn’t use magic or skills in her techniques.

Pure skill.

It’s said that she’s been handling cards since she was born in a circus troupe.

Every subtle glance and gesture is a feint to deceive her opponent. Her finger dexterity is honed to the extreme, and her psychological warfare is overwhelming.

While other gamblers fight with their own cheat skills, she’s a monster among monsters who has fought with only pure skill.

In games, such a setup is only fun, but she was a useless opponent. But now.

‘She’s the worst kind of opponent.’

Watching her finish shuffling and deal the cards, I broke out in a cold sweat.

This young lady doesn’t cheat. If the victim doesn’t know they’ve been tricked, it’s not cheating. That’s how subtle her skills are.

In fact, she doesn’t even need to use her skills. With just basic poker skills—and her natural luck—I’d be utterly crushed.

Since she doesn’t use magic or skills, I can’t overturn the game by catching her cheating like the previous gamblers.

And if I just play a one-on-one poker game, my defeat is as clear as day.

So.

How am I going to defeat this girl?

“What are you thinking so deeply about, Your Highness?”

Scarlet smiled as she dealt the cards.

“Don’t do that and focus on the game with me. Even though I look like this, there are many people where I lived who would consider it their lifelong wish to play cards with me.”

“You were an idol?”

“Hehe. There are endless embarrassing nicknames. The flower of the underground poker room, the mascot of the house… everyone adored me.”

Clack-

After dealing the cards, Scarlet whispered softly.

“But then, they were all devoured by me.”

“…”

Now, without any pretense, she was exuding the aura of a true competitor.

Picking up the cards she gave me, I grinned.

“Then, let’s see… if you can devour me too?”

***

I was completely wiped out.

“…No, she’s too good.”

I muttered in disbelief, but Scarlet just smiled and quietly shuffled the cards.

She wasn’t using any cheating techniques, just honestly crushing me with her skill.

It seems she decided to play fair, since her colleagues were defeated, and using ‘techniques’ might expose her and put her in danger.

It was a very accurate judgment.

I had Damian observe the game from the next room.

If he saw her winning by using sleight of hand, he could immediately overturn the game.

But Damian couldn’t detect anything from her. In other words, she was playing poker normally.

And yet, she was overwhelmingly beating me.

“…”

My remaining chips were down to 10. I had lost 90.

Scarlet glanced at the pile of chips on her table, then playfully smacked her lips. I laughed in dismay.

The poker in this world has rules similar to Texas Hold’em on Earth.

You compete to make the strongest five-card hand out of a total of seven cards: two hole cards and five community cards.

However, the five community cards are not revealed all at once.

Three cards are opened initially. Then, one card is added at a time, and each time, you choose whether to continue the game or give up and pass the pot to your opponent.

The part where skill is determined is right here.

Looking at your hole cards, calculating the odds, and giving up the pot without hesitation if you think it’s unfavorable.

That’s how you win the overall game.

In short, it’s a ‘game where you have to lose well to eventually win’.

I was unskilled in this area. I bluffed with mediocre hands and was crushed by Scarlet, who had finished her calculations with precision.

As a result, I only had 10 chips left.

Shuffling sounds-

I casually asked her as she shuffled the cards with incredibly smooth movements.

“Why did you choose to live as a gambler?”

“I didn’t choose it.”

Scarlet replied indifferently as she finished shuffling.

“A commoner girl born in a circus troupe didn’t have a choice. I had to do something to earn a living, anything.”

“…”

“Luckily, the cards chose me.”

She said that she didn’t choose the cards, but the cards chose her.

I asked her again.

“If you were given a chance to choose your life. Would you still choose cards then?”

“…”

Scarlet paused for a moment, then looked down at the cards.

“Yes.”

“Alright, Miss Scarlet.”

I smiled faintly and beckoned with my hand.

“From now on, I’d like you to give me a very good hand so that I can win unconditionally.”

“Hehe, even if I wanted to, could I do that? Everything will be determined by Your Highness’s luck.”

But from that hand on.

Suddenly, my hands started to come together like crazy.

“Diamond flush.”

“Full house.”

“Four of a kind of aces.”

Suddenly, hands with unbelievable combinations came to me, and I quickly took almost all of her chips.

The situation was reversed, with me having 190 chips and Scarlet having 10.

“…How?”

Scarlet looked at me with wide eyes, as if she couldn’t believe the situation.

“How did you do that, just now…?”

“Well.”

I grinned and put the last hand of cards forward.

“I’m lucky today.”

Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of Spades.

Royal Straight Flush.

The strongest hand in poker. You can say it’s something you’d never see in reality.

I threw my hand forward and personally pulled her last remaining chips towards me. Scarlet now had her small mouth open.

“…This can’t be real.”

“No.”

I stood up and declared clearly.

“This is definitely the reality you created.”

I told Scarlet a little while ago.

– From now on, I’d like you to give me a very good hand so that I can win unconditionally.

While saying this, I used [Commanding Eye].

Scarlet, under conditional mind control, fully demonstrated her skills as a master gambler, sorting the cards every time she shuffled to give me the strongest hand combinations.

Creating the desired combination and giving it to the opponent with the first hand of cards?

It’s a feat only a top-tier gambler can achieve.

I believed that Scarlet’s skills were enough to do it, so I used [Commanding Eye], and she faithfully met my expectations.

“You’re very capable, Scarlet.”

I patted her shoulder, who was still bewildered and unable to grasp the situation, and went outside.

“So, it’s easy to use you.”

I hope she doesn’t call me petty when she finds out the truth later.

After all, isn’t that what gambling is all about? A fight of how to deceive and how not to be deceived.

‘Certainly, Scarlet is very strong as a gambler.’

She would easily crush other gamblers who use ordinary methods.

But in the end, she has no magical talent. In other words, she has no means to counter magic from this side.

No matter how good she is at gambling, she is still just a Rank N hero. She may have become a big name and built her reputation in the gambling world with just her hand skills—

But this is a battlefield.

Fighting against real magic is, so to speak, a different genre of battle. It was an overwhelming match for her from the start.

‘But she could be very useful for other purposes.’

Thinking this, I stretched my neck out of the guest room.

“So, where is the last person?”

***

The final round.

The location is the training grounds. The opponent is Violet, an SR-Rank hero.

“…”

Violet, who was sitting at the table in the training grounds with an anxious look, jumped up when she saw me.

I sat down in front of her with a relaxed motion.

Violet asked hesitantly with a pale face.

“My colleagues…?”

“They’ve turned into chips.”

I said casually and winked.

“They all underestimated me too much. Right?”

“…”

“To play tricks in front of royalty. Didn’t they value their lives? Or were they that confident in their skills?”

Violet bit her lip. I chuckled.

“So, Miss Violet. How are you going to compete with me? Your skills have already been broken by me.”

“Tch…”

“You can run away with your tail between your legs. Are you going to give up here? If you fold, I’ll spare your life.”

As I sneered, Violet gritted her teeth.

“D-don’t make me laugh.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t make me laugh, you royal brat! Do you think I can fold after coming this far!”

Violet threw her top hat on the ground and spat out fiercely.

“Shit! I’ve rolled around in all sorts of dirty back alleys! I’ve had guns pointed at my head, knives in my gut! I’ve won my way here playing poker even while bleeding out!”

Finally, I get to hear her real way of speaking.

Her way of speaking, which she had been using to maintain formality, was so awkward and didn’t suit her.

When she was truly cornered, Violet finally spoke in her real way of speaking, not the fake one she had been putting on.

“It’s a do-or-die situation anyway! If I don’t make a killing here, I’ll end up dying like a cicada in the middle of winter!”

It was a very cheap and messy way of speaking that didn’t match her purple hair, which she had dyed to look aristocratic.

“I’ve survived all sorts of shitty things, like getting shot, stabbed, and everything else! I’ve crawled my way here, defeating mafia bosses, arena champions, and serial killers!”

I liked it.

“Do you think I can’t take down a royal?!”

Whoosh!

Her purple eyes glowed, and she deployed a hallucination field—[Violet Zone].

Smart. It seems she learned something from when she fought me yesterday.

Whoosh-!

Her hallucination field was deployed, avoiding only the area where I was.

The entire lord’s mansion was covered by her hallucination field, but she was carefully controlling it so that the field didn’t touch the area around me as I moved.

“Oh.”

I was genuinely impressed.

“What, you’re pretty good. Violet.”

“…My magic doesn’t work around you, but it works outside of that!”

[Unyielding Commander] has a skill effective radius.

It doesn’t provide immunity to mental status ailments to allies outside the radius.

The lord’s mansion must be under Violet’s hallucination right now.

Violet was breathing heavily, as if she was struggling to deploy such a large area.

“While I hold you here, I’ll use the hallucination to save my colleagues… and steal your gold bars! And then escape outside!”

“Yes, yes. You should have used it like this from the start.”

I nodded.

“Your skills are too precious to waste on gambling.”

“What…?”

“More than anything, I’m sure of it. Violet.”

I clicked my tongue and snapped my fingers. Snap!

“Not knowing when to fold and betting again with a losing hand. And even in this situation, trying to save your colleagues…”

At the same time I snapped my fingers,

Whoosh-

Thud!

A rubber bullet fired from the lord’s mansion hit Violet’s forehead.

It was Damian who shot it.

Damian’s [Clairvoyance] is not deceived by hallucinations. He had been instructed to snipe with rubber bullets in preparation for an emergency.

Violet fell to the floor without even screaming and fainted, and the hallucination field disappeared.

Looking down at Violet, who had collapsed with foam at her mouth, I clicked my tongue.

“You’re not suited to be a gambler after all.”

So, I’ll use you usefully.